I have practiced under more effective and less effective teachers throughout my practice. My road could have been shorter than if I hadn't moved around(physically too far to go to my old dojo), and stayed with the teacher I found 10 years ago. But maybe I wouldn't have appreciated my teacher as much as I do now. I spent 3 years at a dojo where I didn't learn much of anything. It was basically lost time in my opinion. But the fact that I'm in a place where I am constantly learning now is a real motivator. In short, I don't believe in a short road. You are either someone who is on the track to being an aikido great, or one of the regular folk that practice all their lives, but probably won't be a great teacher or anything. It mostly depends on how much we are willing to put into our practice.

Also, I'm not sure why the development of ki and the practice of aikido are treated separately.